


Coalition

by Emospritelet



Category: Cobra (TV 2019), Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cats, Established Relationship, F/M, Morning Cuddles, Morning Wood, Politics, Press Intrusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 12:03:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22712635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emospritelet/pseuds/Emospritelet
Summary: Belle French has been sleeping with the Prime Minister for a few weeks, and the press pack finally catches up with them. Ficlet in my Honourable Members verse.
Relationships: Belle (Once Upon a Time)/Robert Sutherland (Cobra)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 51





	Coalition

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Honourable Members](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18247388) by [Emospritelet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emospritelet/pseuds/Emospritelet). 

> This was written in celebration of Honourable Members winning two TEAs. @reolf prompted: "Can I prompt you for Honourable Members , about the press finding out about the Prime Minister dating/ living together with Belle? :-)))"

Belle smiled, stretching a little as she felt the press of warm skin against her back and the feel of lips against her shoulder. The sound of a low, rumbling growl made her belly tighten and pull, and a hand slid around her waist, tugging her close. Her right buttock was pressed against something hard and insistent, and the kisses at her shoulder moved up to her neck, stubble rasping against her skin.

“Good morning,” murmured Sutherland, his breath in her ear making her shiver.

“Morning,” she said, turning her head to kiss him.

His hand cupped her cheek, the kiss hungry, lips pulling at hers, and she knew very well that if she didn’t get out of bed now, they would both be late for work. A plaintive mew at the bedroom door made her pull her mouth from his. The sound came again, joined by a second, even more pitiful mew.

“I have to feed the cats,” she said, a little breathlessly. “I bet they’re already annoyed that we shut them outside last night, they’ll probably crap in the bathroom just to prove a point.”

“Well, we were rather busy, as I recall,” he said lazily, rolling back from her and letting her slip from the bed. “They would only have been disturbed.”

Belle snatched up her nightshirt, slipping it on and grabbing her robe. He was lying on his side, propped up on one elbow, his eyes heavy and lazy and a slanted grin on his face. God, she wanted to get back in bed!

“I’ll make some coffee,” she said. “Besides, it’s gone seven. We should really get up, we need to get to work.”

Sutherland rolled onto his back with a grumbling sigh.

“Fine, but tonight you can stay at my place,” he said. “I’d like more time in bed with you in the morning.”

“Right, because no one’s gonna notice if I slip out of Number 10 looking freshly fucked, are they?” she remarked, and Sutherland chuckled.

“Ask me if I care.”

“You will when it’s all the press wants to ask you about,” she said flatly, and he waved a hand.

“Ah, fuck ‘em! They’ll move onto the next story in a day or two, you know that.”

The mewing started up again, followed by a scrabble of claws at the bedroom door, and Belle sighed.

“Coffee, then.”

“I’ll make it,” he said. “You see to the cats.”

He threw back the covers, giving her an eyeful of exactly what she was leaving behind, and Belle sighed again, wrenching open the bedroom door and almost falling over Fifi and Fudge, her two ginger and white cats. They wound around her legs, tails wrapping her calves and almost tripping her up as she tried to get to the kitchen.

It was fifteen minutes later, cats fed and coffees in hand, that they went through to the lounge. Sergeant Nolan, one of Sutherland’s protection officers, nodded stiffly from his position by the front door of Belle’s flat.

“Morning, Sergeant,” said Sutherland. “Did Sergeant Knight go home?”

“Changed shifts at six, sir,” said Nolan. 

“I’ll get you a coffee, if you’d like one,” said Belle warmly, and he smiled briefly, but shook his head.

“No, thank you, ma’am,” he said, and hesitated. “Uh - there’s something you should be aware of, sir.”

Sutherland sighed.

“Are we talking national emergency, political coup or stock market crash?”

“Not quite, sir. There’s a bunch of reporters outside, sir.”

_ “What?” _Belle rushed to the window, opening it up and poking her head out. A flash of light from below made her squeak and pull back inside, shutting the window. “Bollocks! How did they find out?”

“Well, we haven’t been all that secretive in our cross-bench sparring,” remarked Sutherland, taking a sip of his coffee. “Carrie always did say we looked as though we wanted to grab each other in the middle of PMQs and fuck it out.”

“I guess she wasn’t wrong,” said Belle, giggling a little. 

Sergeant Nolan had that bland, expressionless look on his face that meant he was trying not to think about what was being said in front of him. She hoped to God he hadn’t heard what the two of them had gotten up to, but the walls in the flat weren’t all that thick.

“How are we gonna get past them?” she asked. “We could go out the back way, I guess, but I bet the little bastards are out there, too.”

Sutherland took a slurp of his coffee, setting down his cup with a clunk.

“Fuck it,” he said decidedly. “We’re going out the front. I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.”

“We’ll be tabloid front page news…” she warned, in a sing-song voice, and he sniffed.

“Good. Means they can stop bloody speculating. Sergeant, make sure the car’s ready to go. I’m getting dressed.”

* * *

Half an hour later they were both ready, Sutherland very pointedly leaving his tie off and his shirt unbuttoned at the neck. Belle had donned a smart blue dress and jacket, hair tied up on her head in a shining knot, feet in heels with pointed toes. They waited inside the hallway of the building, listening to the murmur of press voices on the other side, and Sutherland tugged his jacket straight as she brushed a stray cat hair from the shoulder of his suit. 

“Alright?” he asked quietly, and Belle nodded.

“Actually, yes.”

“Ready to go public?”

She sent him a flat look.

“Like you said, they’ll move onto the next story in a few days, but in the meantime I’m willing to put money on the fact that _you_ get asked about how our relationship could be a security risk and _I_ get asked about our sex life.”

Sutherland chuckled.

“Yeah, I’m not betting against you on that,” he remarked. “Maybe we should release a joint statement.”

“Want me to tell them about that thing you do with your thumb?”

His chuckle deepened, his eyes glinting.

“I think _not_, that’ll only encourage the bastards.”

Belle rose up on her toes, grinning as she kissed him. Sergeant Nolan was holding a hand to the earpiece in his ear, and nodded curtly.

“Car’s outside, sir,” he said. “I’ll go out and move them back.”

“Good man. Belle?”

Sutherland offered his arm, and Belle took it, sharing a smile with him as Sergeant Nolan opened the door.

If the waiting press were surprised to see them exiting together, arm in arm and heads held high, they certainly didn’t show it. Cameras flashed and microphones were shoved forwards, a multitude of questions tumbling over one another as Sergeant Nolan cleared a path for the Prime Minister and the junior MP who up until recently—for those outside Sutherland’s inner circle, anyway—had seemed to be nothing more than his chief antagonist in the Commons. Belle kept her gaze fixed on the car ahead, another of Sutherland’s security officers holding open the rear door.

“Prime Minister, is Miss French influencing Government policy?”

“Prime Minister, what do you have to say to those speculating that your relationship with Miss French could cause a security breach?”

“Belle, what’s it like sleeping with the enemy?”

“Prime Minister, is this indicating a likely coalition with the New Liberals in the next election?”

There was a ripple of laughter at that one, and Sutherland stopped, looking irritated.

“Alright, you managed to track me down and interfere with my private life, well done all,” he said testily. “Yes, Miss French and I are in a relationship. No, it’s none of your business. Yes, we will continue to serve our country in the best way we know. No, we still don’t agree on many key areas of Government policy. Satisfied?”

The questions started up again, and Nolan helped Belle into the car, followed by Sutherland. The thump of the heavy door shut out the noise and plunged them into blessed silence, although cameras still flashed outside as reporters pressed themselves against the window. Belle gave Sutherland an amused look.

“Maybe I should give you a lap dance, really give them something to write about,” she said, and he grinned, leaning in.

“I’ll hold you to that later,” he murmured, leaning in to kiss her. “But let’s keep it in the bedroom.”

She kissed him back, flashes exploding around them.

“Okay,” she whispered, and met his eyes. “I’m planning on kicking your arse over that housing bill, by the way.”

Sutherland raised an eyebrow, still grinning.

“Bring it on, Miss French.”


End file.
